I've wanted to design for years (around 6) and I've never stopped, it's been pure obsession. I've been using Gamedev.net (on my old profile) for, give or take, a year now and the lessons I've learnt have really helped shape me as a designer. I'm currently 16 and stuck in compulsory education but that hasn't stopped me from designing and at the end of last year something very special happened.

I'm not sure how aware people in the US are of the BAFTA awards but in the UK they're sort of like the Oscars. Using skills I've taught myself and lessons I've learnt from the many fine members here I managed to win a BAFTA in young game design. I couldn't have done this without you guys and I'm so glad that this site provided the resources for me to accomplish something to be proud of at such a young age.

I think there's a video of me accepting my award on youtube somewhere if you require proof (in my acceptance speech I thank the internet, it was in a jokey fashion but I was thinking of this site).

nothing else to say other than thank you again for being so freaking awesome

aha yeah, that interview is painful! Sam fell apart a bit but BAFTA thankfully didn't put that on their Youtube channel.

the video of me getting the award is here: about 16 minutes in. Kudos to BAFTA for giving me the opportunity to do this, if there are any people between 11 and 15 reading this, you NEED to enter this years, it's really amazing, even getting short-listed is great.

I should be at Eurogamer this year so it'll be weird visiting the talks they'll be doing there for it, hopefully I can do a talk or two, get to go into Eurogamer early, then meet some of my favourite developers a bit more personally.

I appreciate everyone's congratulations, thanks a lot!

P.S. part of the prize is to get the design made into a prototype by Abertay university, it's not coded yet, all theory. When the prototype's done however we (my team) keep all the rights to it so we can take it to developers if we want. If no one takes it then I'll probably upload it online for free.

I have a better explanation here that I sent to a gaming friend of mine:

admittedly it sounds kind of generic (to pull in the under 12 audience). You play as a ludicrously cutesy hamster known simply as "The Chosen One". He accidently pulls the legendary sword out of the legendary stone and is sent to the princess to ask her hand in marriage. The princess is kidnapped before he arrived by the evil Sir Purs Alot, a nefarious cat, hell-bent on creating a time machine (his logic is questioned later when characters start to ask him why he needs a princess to do that). The Chosen One utilizes basic slapstick humour while the sexualised hamster princess constantly questions her appearance as a way of making a dig at how women are represented in games. The game is a puzzle-platformer in which the player can alter the hamsters weight (by storing food in his cheeks) to solve problems. The game is for the DS and a prototype is being made by EA, hope that's an adequete description

How much time did it take to make the game? How much for the design and how much for the production?

No production as the BAFTA thing is purely design based. We (me the head of production for the project) did take into account the scale of the production as well as budget, the full game could be made in about 6 months with a team of 10 people.

The application form was kinda basic (explain the games plot in 100 words, the gameplay in 100 words etc) but I decided I wanted to get a firmer grasp on how the entire game would pan out so I made a very rough 15 page design doc to get the fundamentals down as well as a few interesting ideas for levels that could get the most out of the games core mechanics.

I'm going up to Dundee in about two weeks to visit Abertay University and meet with some of the students who are going to help develop the prototype so I'm glad me and James (younger guy in the interview) fleshed out the ideas with the design doc so we have a clear vision when we meet with the students (although we are DEFINATELY going to want the students to have a lot of freedom in terms of what they do with the project, get as many influences in there as possible).

How much time did it take to make the game? How much for the design and how much for the production?

No production as the BAFTA thing is purely design based. We (me the head of production for the project) did take into account the scale of the production as well as budget, the full game could be made in about 6 months with a team of 10 people.

The application form was kinda basic (explain the games plot in 100 words, the gameplay in 100 words etc) but I decided I wanted to get a firmer grasp on how the entire game would pan out so I made a very rough 15 page design doc to get the fundamentals down as well as a few interesting ideas for levels that could get the most out of the games core mechanics.

I'm going up to Dundee in about two weeks to visit Abertay University and meet with some of the students who are going to help develop the prototype so I'm glad me and James (younger guy in the interview) fleshed out the ideas with the design doc so we have a clear vision when we meet with the students (although we are DEFINATELY going to want the students to have a lot of freedom in terms of what they do with the project, get as many influences in there as possible).

Very nice! I congratulate you for the professionalism you put into it as well.

Please, if you can, keep us posted on the progress of this project. An analysis of the planning vs. the actual development could be a very interesting reading if you blogged about it.

How much time did it take to make the game? How much for the design and how much for the production?

No production as the BAFTA thing is purely design based. We (me the head of production for the project) did take into account the scale of the production as well as budget, the full game could be made in about 6 months with a team of 10 people.

The application form was kinda basic (explain the games plot in 100 words, the gameplay in 100 words etc) but I decided I wanted to get a firmer grasp on how the entire game would pan out so I made a very rough 15 page design doc to get the fundamentals down as well as a few interesting ideas for levels that could get the most out of the games core mechanics.

I'm going up to Dundee in about two weeks to visit Abertay University and meet with some of the students who are going to help develop the prototype so I'm glad me and James (younger guy in the interview) fleshed out the ideas with the design doc so we have a clear vision when we meet with the students (although we are DEFINATELY going to want the students to have a lot of freedom in terms of what they do with the project, get as many influences in there as possible).

Very nice! I congratulate you for the professionalism you put into it as well.

Please, if you can, keep us posted on the progress of this project. An analysis of the planning vs. the actual development could be a very interesting reading if you blogged about it.

Good luck!

Sure man, no problem! Glad to know you guys are interested! Thanks for the good wishes!